I’ve come to discover that traditions for this time of year vary greatly from family to family.  Here are a few I’ve heard about recently: a visiting elf who watches you for Santa, special pajamas to be worn on Christmas Eve, watching “Charlie Brown Christmas” while drinking hot chocolate (this was a must!), putting reindeer food in the yard, putting the baby Jesus in the nativity on Christmas morning- but not before, believing in Santa, not believing in Santa, giving only 3 gifts, giving too many gifts to count…the list could go on and on.

Traditions were never a huge deal in my family.  I don’t remember us doing anything around the holidays exactly the same every year.  I don’t think this was a bad thing….we just didn’t.  I remember every holiday being fun and full of family time.  Maybe that was the only tradition we really needed.  

I started several traditions with my boys through the years- some stuck and some didn’t.  There are a few that we still continue to this day.  The first is the new pajamas tradition.  We take great pride in picking out our Christmas PJ’s.  We all go shopping together a week or two before Christmas, and pick out just the right ones. The only rule is that they cannot match.  It’s a tradition, but we’re not “that” family.  The second is the Nutcracker collection.  Each of my boys receives a new nutcracker every year from me.  I try to find just the right one- something that reminds me of them from that year.  Each one is unique to their personality, what they’ve been interested in that year, or something that elicits a great memory.  For instance, Mitchell got a nutcracker dressed all in the color orange last year because he became a Syracuse “Orangeman” when he went to college.  These traditions don’t add anything to the Spiritual emphasis of Christmas.  They are just fun.

The Spiritual emphasis we place on Christmas doesn’t have to come with a list of traditions, it’s a tradition all its own. The faith in a Savior born in Bethlehem, who grew up to die for our sins, and then rise again on the third day is part of who we are as a family.  We don’t have to add a whole lot of traditions around that to make it important to us.  We don’t have to think of ways to make the birth of Jesus special…it was special then, and it’s special now- period.  This is not to say that we don’t do things to specifically celebrate Jesus- we do.  We read of His birth in God’s Word together, we have a “Happy Birthday Jesus” cake for dessert on Christmas Day, we do a “Walk to Bethlehem” somewhere around town…just to name a few. 

The point is this, all of those things are good, but even if we stopped doing them, Christmas would still come.  One day – maybe sooner than I want- my boys will stop shopping for pajamas with me.  One day, they will display their nutcracker collections in their own homes- or at least put them in a box in their own basements.  One day I will no longer sit on a couch with boys on each side as I read Luke 2. One day someone will decide that the birthday cake is no longer needed for dessert, and sadly, one day a walk around Bethlehem will be a faint memory.  Despite all of that, Christmas will still come.  Jesus will still be born.  Jesus will still be King.  Jesus will still be a Savior who loved us enough to die for our sins.  

Our traditions don’t make or break Christmas.  Only our belief in a very real and living God can make or break…everything. 

This Week’s Announcements:
Christmas Eve Services will be held at 4pm and 6pm on…Christmas Eve of course!  Each service will last an hour, but will vary in “feel.”  The first one at 4pm will be more interactive (great for kids) and will feature our student ministry worship team leading us in worship.  The second one will be more traditional. 

What God is Teaching Us:
Follow the link below to see this past Sunday’s curriculum: 
This link is no longer available

Funny Things Kids Do and Say…
One little girl, trying to gain her friend’s attention, calls out, “Eleven!”  The friend’s name is Evelyn.  She may have wondered why the friend never answered. 

One 4 year old brings his special “backpack” to church each week.  This is funny for two reasons; one, it’s not a backpack, but is instead the empty case for a folding chair, and two, it is always filled with something different and unique. This week’s treasures included his sister’s polka-dotted slippers (which he put on as soon as he entered the room), and some “gold” he found in his backyard.  The gold was in fact a Q-tip dipped in some sort of yellow paint.  (Proof once again that we should just give our kids empty boxes for Christmas!)